All posts tagged Agricultural Bank of China

The Chinese Communist Party has expelled from its ranks a former Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. executive, in a case that has had China’s media and netizens abuzz with speculation since the bank first flagged that the executive was cooperating with an official investigation a year ago.

AgBank, however, has provided frustratingly little detail in one of the most high profile cases of alleged corruption at Chinese banks in recent years. Read More »

Investors sold Chinese bank shares on Friday after Thursday night’s surprise rate cut, which appears aimed at putting more money into the economy at the expense of lender profitability.

In midmorning trading in Hong Kong, China Construction Bank was down 2.1%, Agricultural Bank of China was down 2.5%, Industrial & Commercial Bank of Chinawas down 1.4% and Bank of China was down 0.7%. Read More »

The Public Security Bureau of Wuxi, the eastern Chinese city’s police department, said this week an international arrest warrant has been issued for a man named Sun Feng, whom it identifies as an Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. manager who illegally fled overseas late last year with his family and with money that didn’t belong to him.

Separately, police in Wuxi also say they have formally detained a 31-year-old Standard Chartered employee named Wu Yidian Eden and are investigating her ties to Mr. Sun.

Meanwhile, the global police network Interpol recently published on its website an international arrest warrant on behalf of China’s Ministry of Public Security seeking a fugitive 39-year-old Chinese man named Sun Feng.

Now, the question is whether the Sun Feng named by Interpol is the same one who banked at Standard Chartered. Read More »

China’s banks have had a good year. A very good year. So good, in fact, that it’s a little embarrassing.

That was the message from China Minsheng Banking Corp. President Hong Qi during a speech at the Global Entrepreneur Summit 2011 in Beijing Thursday, according to a transcript posted on the event organizer’s website. Read More »

News that Huijin Investment Ltd. – the branch of China’s sovereign wealth fund responsible for holding stakes in state financial institutions – was buying shares in Chinese banks on Monday has been enough to push the Hong Kong-listed shares in those banks up between 8% and 16%.

But Shanghai investors have proven harder to impress – even though the shares were purchased there.

A top U.S. Treasury official said Wednesday that Washington could impose sanctions on China’s biggest banks if they are caught doing business with an Iranian insurance company on the U.S. blacklist, AFP reported.

David Cohen, undersecretary of Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, is in China to discuss U.S. sanctions on Iran, and he met with representatives of Bank of China Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp., Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and the Agricultural Bank of China. Read More »

Underwriters of Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.’s Hong Kong initial public offering are tapping a smaller pool of fees than the prospectus would otherwise indicate, and the unusually large group — seven in all — means that each is getting a smaller piece of the pie.

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But it still stands to be a big payday, with some investment banks standing to gain more than others, and with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. leading the way.

According to a person familiar with the situation, Goldman Sachs and China International Capital Corp. will each collect 17% of the fee pool set aside by AgBank for the underwriters. Based on the prospectus, that pool should stand at 1.98% of the total proceeds from the Hong Kong IPO, which raised $10.44 billion, but given AgBank isn’t paying out fees on funds raised by cornerstone investors it brought in by itself, the actual payout is more like 1.35% of the total, the person said.

That translates into a pool of about $140.9 million, or $23.96 million each for Goldman Sachs and CICC. Goldman is also the stabilizing manager for the deal, giving it further opportunities to benefit from brokerage fees if it finds itself needing to prop up AgBank’s share price during the first 30 days of the stock trading. Read More »

If you thought the cornerstone investors for the Hong Kong leg of Agricultural Bank of China’s initial public offering were a motley crew, take a look at the cast for the Shanghai IPO (PDF, in Chinese).

Reuters

Accounting for a whopping 40% of the mainland issue (assuming the greenshoe option is exercised), the 27 investors come from all corners of China’s economy and — with the exception of the occasional financial investor — it’s not immediately obvious why they might feel their business will be enhanced by taking a piece of AgBank.

Firms with some involvement in China’s agricultural sector, such as Cofco Ltd., China’s main grain producer, and China Tobacco Corp., may have a strategic reason for investing. Similarly, if AgBank is poised to taking a leading role in the urbanization of China’s hinterland, as it has been telling investors, then there may be some synergy for State Grid Corp. of China, the monopoly power distributor in all but five southern provinces, and China State Construction Engineering Corp.

But it’s more difficult to divine the strategic thinking that went into, say, Aviation Industry Corp. of China or China State Shipbuilding Corp. stumping up cash for a piece of AgBank. Read More »

Rain or shine? How AgBank’s shares fare will determine if it uses its greenshoe option and becomes the No. 1 IPO ever.

So will AgBank be No.1? Probably, but it could be days or even weeks before we know for sure, and it’s not certain.

The factor that could push AgBank over the line is its greenshoe option, also called an overallotment, a clause in the underwriting contract that allows additional shares to be issued after an offering has priced. Typically a footnote in deal history, the greenshoe has taken on added significance in AgBank’s case because it is the swing factor between first and second place on the all-time IPO brag list. Whether AgBank uses its greenshoe will depend on how well its shares are received after they start trading in Shanghai on July 15 and in Hong Kong on July 16—basically, the better the shares perform, the more likely it will be used. Read More »

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